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Archive for August, 2013
Japan: Fukushima operator reveals leak of 300 tonnes of highly contaminated water
Posted by Guardian: Justin McCurry on August 20th, 2013
Guardian: Frantic efforts to contain radioactive leaks at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been dealt another blow after its operator said about 300 tonnes of highly contaminated water had seeped out of a storage tank at the site.
The leak is the worst such incident since the March 2011 meltdown and is separate from the contaminated water leaks, also of about 300 tonnes a day, reported recently.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it did not know how the water leaked out or where...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Japan: Fukushima operator reveals leak of 300 tonnes of highly contaminated waterJapan: Radioactive water leak at Fukushima
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
BBC: Radioactive water has leaked from a storage tank into the ground at Japan's Fukushima plant, its operator says.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said the leak of at least 300 tonnes of the highly radioactive water was discovered on Monday.
The plant, crippled by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, has seen a series of water leaks and power failures.
The tsunami knocked out cooling systems to the reactors, three of which melted down.
An employee discovered the leak on Monday morning,...
United Kingdom: Lucas: Anti-fracking demo action decision ‘not taken lightly’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
Telegraph: Green Party MP Caroline Lucas was among more than 30 people arrested when anti-fracking campaigners staged a series of protests around the country. Dr Lucas said her decision to take direct action and join the Balcombe demonstration "wasn't taken lightly". She told ITV's Daybreak: "I do have a very privileged voice and taking this kind of action isn't something I do lightly but this comes at the end of having tried many, many different ways of raising this issue in Parliament - I've managed to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Lucas: Anti-fracking demo action decision ‘not taken lightly’United Kingdom: Caroline Lucas released on bail after arrest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
Guardian: Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, has been released on bail after being arrested with dozens of other people for an anti-fracking protest that she attended because she felt the government "isn't listening" to opposition to the controversial technology. The former Green party leader said she would find out next week whether she would be charged for her part in a blockade of the energy company Cuadrilla's site in Balcombe, West Sussex, where it is undertaking exploratory drilling for oil. Her son...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Caroline Lucas released on bail after arrestGreen MP Caroline Lucas arrested in Balcombe anti-fracking protest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
Ecologist: People are left with very little option but to take peaceful, non-violent direct action
Hundreds of activists blockaded the Balcombe oil drilling site in Sussex owned by the fracking company Cuadrilla, as well as its Lichfield headquarters and the offices of its PR firm in London.
Demonstrators hung banners at the country home of the Conservative Lord Howells, who stirred controversy by suggesting the "desolate" north should be fracked, and attempted to put up a small wind turbine at the home...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Green MP Caroline Lucas arrested in Balcombe anti-fracking protestHow Extreme Australian Rains Made Global Sea Levels Drop
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
National Public Radio: Global sea level has been rising as a result of global warming, but in 2010 and 2011, sea level actually fell by about a quarter of an inch.
Scientists now say they know why: It has to do with extreme weather in Australia.
The sea level drop coincided with some of the worst flooding in that continent's history. Dozens of people died and torrents washed away houses and cars, forcing thousands from their homes.
Some of those floodwaters simply ran back into the ocean, so they didn't affect...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on How Extreme Australian Rains Made Global Sea Levels DropJapan: Wrecked Fukushima plant springs highly radioactive water leak
Posted by Reuters: Yoko Kubota and Yuka Obayashi on August 20th, 2013
Reuters: Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the most serious setback to the clean up of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The storage tank breach of about 300 tons of water is separate from contaminated water leaks reported in recent weeks, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Tuesday.
The latest leak, which is continuing, is so contaminated that a person standing 50 centimeters...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan: Wrecked Fukushima plant springs highly radioactive water leakMonsoon rains swamp half of Philippine capital, killing seven
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
Reuters: Monsoon rains reinforced by a tropical storm flooded half the Philippine capital in just 24 hours, triggering landslides and killing at least seven people, officials said on Tuesday.
At least 40,000 people sought shelter in government evacuation centers across the main island of Luzon and more than double that number moved to relatives' or friends' homes for safety as schools and government offices shut for a second day.
Financial markets suspended trading and most banks and private firms were...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Monsoon rains swamp half of Philippine capital, killing sevenLeaked report: 80cm sea rise warning
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Ben Cubby, Peter Hannam on August 20th, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: The world is on track to become up to five degrees hotter, and sea levels could rise more than 80 centimetres this century, according to a leaked draft of a landmark climate change report prepared for the UN.
There is now a 95 per cent likelihood human greenhouse gas emissions are driving changes being observed globally, which in recent weeks have included extraordinary heatwaves in Asia and Alaska.
That degree of certainty has been revised up from 90 per cent in the last report in 2007, 66...
Philippines swamped after days of torrential rain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2013
Associated Press: Some of the Philippines' heaviest rains on record fell for a second day on Tuesday, turning the capital's roads into rivers and trapping tens of thousands of people in homes and shelters. The government suspended all work except rescues and disaster response.
Officials reported at least seven people dead, 11 injured and four missing. The dead included a five-year-old boy whose house was hit by a concrete wall that collapsed.
Throughout the sprawling, low-lying capital region of 12 million people,...